Right on the heels of Microsoft's search engine revamp last week, Yahoo announced search improvements of its own on Tuesday. The new Yahoo Search is designed to predict user intent more effectively and get searchers to the results they are looking for more quickly, according to the company.

Yahoo's search engine now integrates audio, video, and photos directly into the search results to help make Web search easier, for example, and the new Search Assist feature offers users help in finding what they are looking for on the Web.

Search Assist might be an especially welcome addition to the landscape. Harris Interactive's recent state-of-the-Web research shows consumers are suffering from what what Harris calls "Web search fatigue." The study revealed that while 99 percent of online adults use a search engine to find information on the Internet, a mere 15 percent of them find what they're looking for with their first search. Most need to conduct three or four searches.

Yahoo's New Search Interface

"We know that consumers want a complete answer, not a bunch of links, and the changes we've made are focused on getting people to the best answer -- whether it be a Web link, photo, video, or music clip -- in one search," Vish Makhijani, general manager and senior vice president of Yahoo Search, said in a statement.

Search Assist goes beyond basic search "suggestions" and gives consumers real-time query suggestions as well as related topics and concepts. Yahoo is betting that consumers will come to appreciate the tool as they search on unfamiliar topics. Search Assist opens a drop down menu of suggestions and related concepts that can open the door to further exploration around the search topic.

"Yahoo is taking a suggestion feature that usually comes up with your search results and actually presenting before the query is formulated," said Greg Sterling, principal analyst at Sterling Market Intelligence. "If you begin typing a query and you hesitate, then the box appears, sensing that you may be unable to formulate a query or are unclear on what the query should be."

For searchers who prefer not to be bothered unless they need help, Search Assist stays out of the way. Only when it senses the customer is stumped does the technology step on the scene. "For some it might be intrusive, but it's designed not to be present all the time if you don't want it," Sterling said. "You can type with it open. You can close it and it only opens, theoretically, when you need it."

Multimedia Integration at Last

In addition to the new Search Assist feature, Yahoo introduced multimedia integration, including video, audio, and photos directly into the search results, allowing consumers to get their answer -- whether it's a Web link, photo, video, or music clip -- without leaving the page.

Consumers will see new Yahoo Search Shortcuts, which aims to help consumers save time when searching for popular categories such as events, music, movies, travel, sports, health, shopping, businesses and restaurants. Search Shortcuts integrate ratings and reviews, photos, official Web sites and other useful information, giving consumers a complete answer for their search.

"These changes on the front end are incremental to some degree for Yahoo but broadly consistent with what is going on in the industry," Sterling said. "What's novel is the search assist feature, which is a slicker packaging of suggest tools."